Rory Root passed away while I was in Japan last week.

I met Rory 20 years ago while I was a student at UC Berkeley. His store, Comic Relief, was packed with comics and books from around the world. I bought my first manga from Rory, and I remember when he encouraged me to try some zines from a then unknown artist named Adrian Tomine. Overall, being in his store made me feel the way I do now when I wander into the manga aisles in Japan; a sense of wonder at all the material out there that I’ve never seen before. Rory’s life’s work was to create a store that was rich with art from around the world, and to expose everyone to work they’d never seen before.

In the early nineties, frustrated by my inability to get a job in the comics industry, I published a fanzine of my own called the Bay Area Comics Review. I’ve mentioned it a few times here. When I created it I knew nothing about layout, so when it came time to design the thing I cribbed from Comic Relief’s own publication, Boing. While the content was different, the layout was identical. I showed it to Rory, and he called me on it immediately. And then asked me what he could do to help make it a success.

I encountered Rory every year at comics shows. Sometimes we would talk about what we were both reading, other times we’d talk about the type of glue used in binding Viz trade paperbacks. I’ve encountered a lot of frustrated people in the comics industry, but Rory wasn’t like that; his criticism was always, always constructive. I learned a lot about the business from listening to him, and I learned a lot about comics from shopping at Comic Relief. Rory’s passion for comics, and his dedication to simply getting more people to read them, were unmatched. We have lost a truly great voice for this medium that we all love so much.

Rory never missed a beat. My final communication with him was last February when I started writing about Bay Area Comics Review. I promised my readers that I would go into great detail about the fanzine, how it was made, and the effect it had on my career. Rory read that blog entry and wrote to ask me “If when you discuss your newsletter, Boing comes up please remember that Alex Amado and Corey Bridges were the editors. Both have gone on to much success in the computer world.”

Rest in peace, Rory. You made the world a better place with your passion, caring and humor.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.